(no subject)
Jan. 2nd, 2006 11:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theweaselkingRemember Jose Padilla? You're not supposed to. You're supposed to forget all about him.
But that doesn't change that despite Bush's shell game trying to avoid letting the Supreme Court rule on the legality of holding an American citizen without charge, trial, access to counsel, or allowing him to see the evidence again him, he's still there. The 4th Circuit Court has just ruled that not only can Bush's stormtroopers *not* just charge him now with completely unrelated crimes and pretend they didn't incarcerate him with the last 4 years before now, but they can't turn him over to civilian custody, either.
For the background, if you've missed it,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
iocaste covers the details and explains WHY this is so much fun to watch.
But that doesn't change that despite Bush's shell game trying to avoid letting the Supreme Court rule on the legality of holding an American citizen without charge, trial, access to counsel, or allowing him to see the evidence again him, he's still there. The 4th Circuit Court has just ruled that not only can Bush's stormtroopers *not* just charge him now with completely unrelated crimes and pretend they didn't incarcerate him with the last 4 years before now, but they can't turn him over to civilian custody, either.
For the background, if you've missed it,
iocaste covers the details and explains WHY this is so much fun to watch.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-02 05:08 pm (UTC)The court ruled that, based on the evidence they had seen, the government could hold him. This sets a precedent that they can use in other cases.
Padilla challenged this ruling, all the way to the Supreme Court. Padilla's argument is that holding him as an enemy combatant is unconstitutional.
Since the Court will inevitably rule AGAINST the government on this one, since it IS unconstitutional, the government is trying to pull a fast one and charge Padilla with completely unrelated crimes, removing him from "political prisoner" status and hence making his case before the Supreme Court not matter - after all, he's seeking to have the court rule to let him loose from detainment that's already ended. Hence, they say it's moot.
The court is saying "Whoa there, cowboy, you can't avoid his case AND keep saying you've got the right to hold him". Padilla's got a strong argument that it's not moot - they could very well just lock him up again and force him to start over on the multi-year Supreme Court process again as soon as his first case dies, and they can (and do) do this to other people, too.
So the government is trying to get the 4th Circuit to vacate their opinion - basically, to reverse the ORIGINAL ruling that said holding him was okay - so that Padilla won't have any cause to say "my case is not moot" and the government can just start the process AGAIN and get the same ruling a second time from a different court, to keep holding him.